Account-register.



F. F. DORSEY.

ACCOUNT REGISTER.

APPLIOATION FILED 1111111 8, 1911.

Patented 001. 31, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1. Fig 21,

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F. 'F. DORSEY.

ACCOUNT REGISTER.

- APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8, 1911.

Patented 0ct.31,1911.'

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

FARNUM F. DORSEY, OF RQCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO SUPERIOR REGISTER COMPANY, OF CANISTEO, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ACCOUNT-REGISTER.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FARNUM F. DORSEY, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Account- Registers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to account-registers of the type in which a plurality of billholder frames are pivotally mounted at the bottom so as to be swung apart or together like the leaves of a book. In devices of this kind it is common to make provision for the removal of the frames from the cabi net or support in or upon which they are mounted when in use, so that when not in use the frames may be conveniently transported, or stored in a safe.

In the copending application of Albert F. Staples filed of even date herewith, to which reference is made by permission of the applicant, an account-register is disclosed of such construction that when the bill-holder frames are removed from the cabinet or support they are not permanently secured together, but are provided in themselves, with means for securing them temporarily together when not in use, these means being so constructed that the frames may be readily detached from one another when necessary or desirable.

The present application relates to an account-register of the same type, and one object of the invention is to provide novel and simple means for detachably securing the frames together when removed from the support or cabinet.

Another object of the invention is to provide simple and effective means both for securing the frames pivotally in the cabinet when in use, and for moving the frames into alining position prior to their removal from the cabinet to facilitate the operation of the means for securing the frames together when not in use.

To the foregoing ends the invention consists in the account-register hereinafter de scribed, as it is defined in the succeeding claims. I

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a side-elevation of an account-register embodying the present invention, with the near-side of the cabinet removed to reveal the interior mechanism; Fig. 2 is a Section Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 8, 1911.

Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

Serial No. 632,095.

on the line 22 in ,Fig. 1, showing the parts in position for the removal of the bill-holder frames; Fig. 3 is a partial front-elevation, in section on the line 33 in Fig. 1, showing the bill-holder frames in upright position in the cabinet; Fig.- 4 is a side-elevation, on a smaller scale, of the bill-holder frames as secured together and removed from the cabinet; Fig. 5 is a detail plan-view of the connection between one of the frame-clips and the rearmost frame in the position of- Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 in Fig. 1, on a larger scale.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention is an account-register of the type in which the bill-holder frames are pivotally supported at the bottom with their pivotal axes in an inclined plane, so that the frames may be swung into either upright position or substantially horizontal position.

The general construction of thebill-holder frames is immaterial so far as the present invention is concerned, and they are illustrated as of a well-known form comprising sheet-metal plates or body-portions 7 stiffened by vertical strips or ribs 8 which also divide the body-portions into columns. Billclips 9 of any convenient form are fixed to the body-portion between the ribs 8. The lateral edges of each bill-holder frame are stiffened at the front and rear by stiffeningstrips 10. The lower margin 11 of each body-portion is rolled about a wire which projects laterally at each end to form pivots 12, by means of which the frame may be pivotally mounted.

hen in use the frames are mounted in a cabinet of ordinary form, comprising an upright back 13, side-members 14c, and a base-portion 15. At the inner surface of each side-member 14 is secured an inclined frame-support 16, of which the form is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. This frame-support, which may be conveniently made of sheet-metal, has a portion fixed against the side-member by means of screws 17, and is bent inwardly and then upwardly, while its upper edge is provided with a series of notches or recesses 18 suitably spaced to accommodate the pivots 19 of the bill-holder frames, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

A feature of the invention resides in the means by which the pivots are locked in operative position in the recesses 18, and by which they are also moved forwardly out of the recesses to aline the frames when the frames are to be removed from the cabinet. To these ends I employ a unitary device comprising two parallel arms 19 rigidly connected by a horizontal cross-bar 20, which may conveniently be made integral with the arms. Each arm 19 is pivoted at its lower end upon a screw 21 driven into a side-member of the cabinet. To insure exact cooperative relation between the support 16 and the arm 19 the support is provided with a perforation at its lower end through which the screw 21 passes.

Each arm 19 is provided, at its inner surface, with a longitudinal slot Owing to the inwardly-offset position of the upper recessed edge of the support 16 the corresponding arm 19 may swing into a position between the support and the side-member 14 of the cabinet, as shown in Figs. 1 and 8. Accordingly, when the pivots 12 of the bill-holder frames are engaged with the slots in the arms 19, and these arms are swung to the position of Figs. 1 and 3, the pivots are all retained in the recesses 18 so that they cannot be disengaged therefrom, although the bill-holder frames are free to swing about their pivotal aXis.

lVhen the account-register is in use the arms 19 are retained in the position just described by the engagement with the crossbar 20 of a detent 24; fixed to the back 13 of the cabinet. This detent consists of a strip of spring-metal having a shoulder 25 to engage the bar, and this shoulder is an ranged at such an angle that the resilient action of the spring tends to force the bar downwardly and press the arms 19 into close engagement with the pivots. The detent is provided also with an upwardly-extending extremity 26 which serves as a convenient means for disengaging it from the bar, and which is also engaged by the bar when the bar is swung rearwardly, thus permit-ting the bar to force the detent rearwardly and pass into operative engagement therewith in inserting the bill-holder frames in the cabinet.

When the pivots 12 of the bill-holder frames are disengaged from the supports 16 and from the locking-arms 19, there are no permanent connections between the frames, but means are provided for securing the frames together temporarily at such time to facilitate handling the frames and storing them in a safe, or transporting them to a place of safety. These means are in the form of clips 28 pivoted to the rearmost bill-holder frame. Each clip consists of a strip of sheet-metal, of which one end is slit into three portions. The two outer portions 29 are bent into the form of eyes, while the middle portion 30 is a straight tongue. The eye-portions 29 surround a pivot 31 which consists of a portion of reduced width formed in a plate 32 of sheet-metal. One of these plates is countersunk in each of the lateral stiffening-members 10 of the rearmost bill-holder frame, and is riveted to the frame as shown in Fig. 5.

hen the bill-holder frames are in use each clip 28 is swung to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6, in which it lies close against the back of the rearmost frame so as to be out of the way and not to interfere with the movements of the frames in the cabinet. lVhen the frames are removed from the cabinet, however, the clips 28 are swung around to the position of Figs. 41, 5 and 6, and at this time the hooked free extremity 33 of the clip engages a catch-plate 3 1 countersunk in the stiffening-strip 10 at the front of the foremost frame. As the clips are located midway between the tops and bottoms of the frames they serve to hold the frames securely together in a compact bundle, as shown in Fig. 4c. The function of the tongue-portion 30 of the clip is to retain the clip in its normal inoperative position. To this end the tongue is bent inwardly in the construction of the clip, so that it engages the pivot-member 31 resiliently, and as this member is somewhat flattened, as shown in Fig. 6, the tongue tends to retain the clip in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6 by resilient engagement with the forward, flat surface of the pivot-member.

In order that the frames, when secured together by the clips, may be held in accurately-alined position so as to produce the most compact bundle possible, the lateral edges of all of the frames are recessed to a depth substantially equal to the thickness of the clips 28, the recesses 35 being also of substantially the same width as the clips, and accordingly when the clips are in use they are seated in these recesses, thus rigidly retaining the frames in alinement and also producing a compact arrangement in which the clips do not project beyond the lateral edges of the frames.

Before securing the frames together by means of the clips it is necessary to move the frames into accurate alinement to permit the engagement of the clips with the recesses 35, and this operation is performed by the member comprising the arms 19 and the cross-bar 20, this device thus performing a double function in the account-regis ter. When the bar 20 is released from the detent 24 it may be swung forwardly to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. In this position its forward movement is arrested by means of lugs 27 at the lower ends of the arms 19, these lugs cooperating at this time with the lower extremities of the supports 16, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and thus positively limiting the forward swinging movement of the arms. By this forward movement the pivots 12 are first disengaged from the recesses 18-, and the frames then slide horizontally one upon another, while the pivots are free to move to the necessary extent in the slots 23 until they are brought into substantially vertical alinement. The clips are then swung into operative position, thus securing the frames together, and the frames may then be raised vertically en masse, thus removing the pivots through the upper ends of the slots 23 and disengaging the bundle of frames from the cabinet. In replacing the frames these operations are reversed, the pivots being inserted in the slots, the clips being moved to inoperative position, and the cross-bar 20 being then pushed rearwardly into the cabinet until it is engaged by the detent 24:, whereby the pivots are brought again into engagement with the recesses in the supports.

My invention is not limited to the embodiment thereof hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but may be embodied in various other forms within the nature of the invention as it is defined in the following claims.

I claim 1. An account-register having, in combi nation, a plurality of bill-holder frames, a-

support upon which the frames are removably pivoted at the bottom, and clips for securing the frames together when removed from the support, the clips extending across the edges of the frames and being attached to the foremost and the rearmost frame, and the intermediate frames being provided, at their edges, with abutments to engage the clips and prevent relative sliding movement of the frames.

2. An account-register having, in combination, a plurality of bill-holder frames, a support upon which the frames are removably pivoted at the bottom, and clips for securing the frames together when removed from the support, the clips extending across the edges of the frames and being attached to the foremost and the rearmost frame, and the intermediate frames having recesses at their edges of a depth equal to the thickness of the clips so as to receive the clips flush with the edges of the frames.

3. An accountregister having, in combination, a plurality of bill-holder frames, a support upon which the frames are removably pivoted at the bottom, and clips for securing the frames together when removed from the support, the clips being pivoted upon axes parallel with, and located at, the lateral edges of the rearmost frame, so that they may be swung from a position in the rear of said frame to a position in which they cross the lateral edges of the intermediate frames and engage the foremost frame.

4. An account-register having, in combination, a plurality of bill-holder frames, a support upon which the frames are removably pivoted at the bottom, and clips for securing the frames together when removed from the support, the clips being pivoted upon axes parallel wit-h, and located at, the lateral edges of the rearmost frame so that they may be swung from a position in the rear of said frame to a position in which they cross the lateral edges of the intermediate frames and engage the foremost frame, and the intermediate frames being provided with abut-ments to engage the clips and prevent relative sliding movements of the frames.

5. An account-register having, in combination, a plurality of bill-holder frames nor mally pivoted at the bottom with their lower edges in an inclined plane, a support upon which the frames are removably mounted in the position described, and means independent of the frames for removing the frames, by relative sliding movement, from normal position into, and holding them positively in, alining position to permit the frames to be secured. together in such position, the frames being removable from said means when so secured together.

6. An account-register having, in combination, a plurality of bill-holder frames normally pivoted at the bottom with their lower edges in an inclined plane, a support upon which the frames are removably mounted in the position described, and means independent of the frames for moving the frames, by relative sliding movement, from normal position into, and holding them positively in, alining position to permit the frames to be secured together in such position, the frames being removable from said means by movement transverse to the planes of the frames when so secured together.

7. An account-register having, in combination, a plurality of bill-holder frames provided with pivots at the bottom, a support engaging the pivots and supporting the frames with their bottoms in an inclined plane, and unitary means for retaining the pivots upon the support and for moving them out of engagement therewith and bringing the frames into alining position.

8. An account-register having, in combination, a plurality of bill-holder frames provided with pivots at the bottom, a support engaging the pivots and supporting the frames with their bottoms in an inclined plane, and unitary means for retaining the pivots upon the support and for moving them out of engagement therewith and bringing the frames, and holding them positively in, alining position.

9. An account-register having, in combination, a plurality of bill-holder frames provided with pivots at the bottom, and

means for normally retaining said pivots in an inclined plane when the accountregister is in use, said means including a member engaging the pivots and angularlymovable to bring the frames into alining position to permit them to be secured together in such position, and the frames being removable from said member When so alined.

10. An account-register having, in combination a plurality of bill-holder frames provided with pivots at the bottom and means for normally retaining said pivots in an inclined plane When the account-register is in use, said means including a member slotted to receive the pivots and angularly movable to bring the frames into alining position to permit them to be secured together in such position, and the frames being removable through the ends of the slots in said member when so alined.

FARNUM F. DORSEY.

Witnesses D. GURNEE, L. THoN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

